By Ben Evans, on April 20th, 2020
Artist’s concept of Apollo 13 astronauts Jim Lovell and Fred Haise exploring Fra Mauro. The Lunar Module (LM) Aquarius is visible in the background. Their lost surface explorations subsequently passed to Apollo 14 crewmen Al Shepard and Ed Mitchell. Image Credit: Teledyne Brown
In an alternate universe, Jim Lovell and Fred Haise should have […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on April 18th, 2020
Jim Lovell and Fred Haise participate in lunar surface training in February 1970. Their target was the Moon’s Fra Mauro foothills. Photo Credit: NASA
Had the cruelty of fate not intervened, a half-century ago, this month, the fifth and sixth humans ever to set foot on another world twice have walked on the dusty […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on April 17th, 2020
Apollo 13 back on Earth. Photo: NASA
By the middle of April 1970, Project Apollo—America’s effort to land a man on the lunar surface—had reached one of its most decisive points of crisis. As described in last weekend’s AmericaSpace history feature, an explosion rocked the Apollo 13 spacecraft, halfway to the Moon, destroying one […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on April 12th, 2020
Astronauts gather in Mission Control at the height of the crisis. Seated (from left) are Deke Slayton, Jack Lousma and John Young, with Ken Mattingly and Vance Brand standing. Photo Credit: NASA
Fifty years ago, this week, the lives of three humans literally hung in the balance, more than 200,000 miles (320,000 km) from […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on April 11th, 2020
Gene Kranz (in foreground) watches the Flight Day 3 TV broadcast from Apollo 13. Photo: NASA
Fifty years ago today, on Saturday, 11 April 1970, the third mission aimed at landing humans on the Moon got underway, with a spectacular launch from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. As recounted […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on April 7th, 2020
Apollo 13’s Latin motto of “Ex Luna, Scientia” (“From the Moon, Knowledge”) highlighted this mission as a voyage of exploration and scientific endeavor. Image Credit: NASA
By the spring of 1970, six months had passed since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin triumphantly fulfilled President John F. Kennedy’s pledge to land a man on the […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on December 8th, 2019
Jim Lovell and Fred Haise participate in lunar surface training in February 1970. Their target was the Moon’s Fra Mauro foothills. Photo Credit: NASA
In an alternate universe, Jim Lovell and Fred Haise should have been the fifth and sixth sons of humanity to have walked the surface of an alien world. In April […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on December 1st, 2019
Apollo 13’s Latin motto of “Ex Luna, Scientia” (“From the Moon, Knowledge”) highlighted this mission as a voyage of exploration and scientific endeavor. Image Credit: NASA
Had the cruelty of fate not intervened, 14 sons of Earth—not 12—would have taken the sweeping descent down to the surface of the Moon and left their bootprints […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on September 22nd, 2019
The engines of the Teleoperator Retrieval System (TRS), seen docked to Skylab, perform a lengthy “burn” to either deliver the old space station into a higher, more stable orbit or to prepare it for a controlled, destructive re-entry. Image Credit: NASA
Visiting space stations is, and always has been, a complex and challenging endeavor; […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on June 23rd, 2019
One of the final views of Skylab in orbit, as seen directly by human eyes, during the departure of the third crew in February 1974. The station, which began its slow descent back to Earth 40 years ago, this summer, was the largest single object ever launched into space. Photo Credit: NASA
Forty years […]
Like this:Like Loading...
|
|